Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-31
DIVE CULTURE.
SOME PRACTICAL FACTS CON.
CORNING THIS INDUSTRY.
Elwood Cooper, the Leading Olive
Grower of California, Discusses
this Subject IntelIigently.

oEoMCE VI SdilkOrnid, DISCUSSES
this Subject IntelIigently.
At the recent meeting of the State Hor
ticultural Society, recently held at Santa
Rosa, Elwood Cooper, President of the
State Board, read an essay upon the cult
walton of the olive, and also led discus
sion upon the subject, which was one of
the most interesting features of the annual
meeting. The essayist said:
Those wishing to embark in olive grow
ing | refer to my essay read before the
Fruit-Growers' Convention held at Sacra-
mento, November, 1885, published in the
biennial report, pages 327 to 331 inclusive,
and which can be had free on application
TO b. NJ. Lelong, Secretary State Board of
| Horticulture, at the office, 800 Suffer
street, San Francisco.
Concerning propagation, | recommended
planting 20 feet distant each way. | still
conform to this plan, but | have found it
necessary, after about Is years growth, to
remove every other diagonal row. This
will give the trees a distance of 2Si feet.
The closer planting will pay to do this.
To what | said on disease [ would add
that the only trouble we have had thus far
is the black scale. The remedy | have
adopted will be found on page SO Of the
report. On the subject of olive culture
generally, | refer to pages Is and All to
424, inclusive, 517 to 534, inclusive.
The Mission olive, the enc | have pro-
pagated, is a rapid grower, well adapted to
our climate will grow in almost any
kind of soil if well drained.
The tree is easily shaped. The berries
make good Oil; the fact is, defy the
world to excel mine. The quantity of oil
that ! have made from one acre exceeds
the statistics given in the various tables.
The variety called Picholine, which is be-
ing grown in various parts of the State, |
know nothing about. 1t is only after q
test is made that its merits can be known
fully.
| would recommend to all those who
now begin the business to get few trees
of as many varieties as possible, so us to
determine in the near future what will be
the most profitable to plant. The olive
will thrive and do well in almost every
part of California, and while there may be
fruits that will yield better incomes, no
manent investment Oil-making cannot
be overdone. The demand for good olive
oil at good prices must increase more
rapidly than the production. But those
who embark in the business must remem-
Der that no trees require greater care to in
sure profits, and, as to oil-making, fine
grade can only result from knowledge and
extreme care.
r., VIZ, GRO %
high-priced labor, the picking being done
gathered. We are, comparatively speak
ing, independent of the freight question,
as the value is great in small bulk. The
fruit is not perishable.
l have growing on my place olive trees
in the black adobe, in deep bottom land, in
sandy land made from the wash of the
mountains, in stony hillsides and adobe
hillsides, and in table-land, where the sub
soil is probably twenty feet deep, dark
clay, and so far as | have known there is
no difference in the bearing of these trees
or the oil made. At the same time | do
not recommend planting any kind of trees
where there is deep clay sub-soil, for it
is doubtful if all trees will do so well in
such soil
YIELD OF THE OLIVE.
The only test that l ever made in regard
to the quantities borne by an orchard THAT
is, taking all the trees, showed 122 pounds
of olives per tree throughout the orchard
large trees and small trees seven years
old from the cutting-l22 pounds of olives
from trees seven years from the cutting.
The best results in making oil has been
1855 pounds in one large bottle of oil.
The poorest result was 129 pounds could
not say whether it was caused by the diff
ferent years or by less care in drying We
dried these olives altogether by artificial
heat, and possibly the best result was be-
cause | gave the drying my own special at
tention. But we have for the trees seven
years old at least ten bottles of oil, and
those bottles will sell readily anywhere
and everywhere at a dollar piece. was
compelled to put the price up to 81, S24 3,
case, to keep my customers from quarrel
ing about it, and l am sorry to say they
quarrel all the same. | ought to have put
it at So or $40, SO it would have been a
question OF money, but l did not wish to
do that, and as soon as | shall have large
enough crop | shall put the price at $12 a
case-Sl for a large bottle of oil--and that
is profit enough for an olive orchard.
ABOUT PRUNING.
| Pruning the olive is commenced the
second or third year. In planting a cut
ting it is better not to disturb any limbs or
branches that grow, because cutting when
| the tree is young interferes with the roots.
and you will understand that if YOU cut
| away the limbs, destroy the leaves. Won are
destroying the breathing apparatus of the
tree, destroying the root. An untrimmed
olive tree, when small and commencing to
root, will grow four times as fast without
pruning as if you prune it. The more top
it has the faster it will grow 1t feeds
very largely from the leaves, from moist
ure. After the second year, though. YOU
want to prune. Those that cultivate the
limb up to 81 or feet must, of course.
pinch off all the branches that are making
wood rapidly, so as to force the strength
into one main trunk, and where lateral
limbs branch oIt, pinch them off at the
end and stop the growth in that limb.
But all small branches should be left alone
as much as possible until the tree gets
eight or ten feet high, and then commence
cutting them until you get up to 81 or 6
feet. Those who want to prune low, can
start out from four to five and six inches
from the ground, and from four or five
trees instead of one. | am not in favor of
low pruning of the olive trees in the coast
counties. We have no fear of sunlight
burning the bark, and in ten years you can
get twice as much tree with high pruning
as you can with low pruning 1t grows up
to bush more than tree, and the shoots
vie with each other to get to the sunlight,
while if you pinch them up to four or five
feet you can form much better tree.
CRUSHING THE BERRIES
The crushing process is described in the
biennial report. | have adopted for the
last two years the same method that is
used in Europe pretty generally, except
that l have cast-iron rollers that travel